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If the purpose behind is is to get the government to force banks to responsibly handle money ... you forget it's the government that requires these rules in the

If the purpose behind is is to get the government to force banks to responsibly handle money ... you forget it's the government that requires these rules in the first place. Barclays obviously carries the biggest part of the blame, but when consulting for a bank, we were constantly reminded that there are EU regulations stating that any transaction above 10.000 euros is to be automatically flagged and reported, and if such a transaction is "unusual" (yes that's what the government rule says), it is to be blocked, along with all other transactions on the account, until evidence is provided that the transaction was (a) legitimate (b) not made with the purpose of evading tax. Note that the owner of the blocked account needs to prove the tax department has no issues (for instance a letter stating no outstanding debts). If Barclays is anything like my local banks, it sucks, but chances are they're not doing this just to spite their customers. Since that job I carry 1000 euros in cash in my wallet, and never again shall I have a single bank account again. I managed to have a third account in a separate country last year under a not-identical name (if you're married in the EU chances are you have the right to use any combination of yours and your spouses names, including both of them with or without a dash in between).

Silhouette 10y ago
If the purpose behind is is to get the government to force banks to responsibly handle money ... you forget it's the government that requires these rules in the first place. But the government rules do not require the bank to continue to lock up the money even after evidence of legitimacy is provided or to make further errors that prevent the customer from demonstrating the legitimacy in the required way even if they want to. Both of those things appear to have happened here.
informatimago 10y ago
Notice that 10,000 euros is nothing; as a free lance consultant, you can invoice easily much more than that monthly. So basically they're tracking everybody.
- kuschku 10y ago
  Something like 60% of the people only do transfers over 10'000 Euro once a year or less. Most people earn far less, and only ever transfer such large amounts when they buy a car.
- vidarh 10y ago
  While I agree it's not a high amount claiming that accounts to "basically tracking everybody" is ludicrous. Someone billing 10k Euro a month would easily be in the top 10% earners pretty much everywhere. E.g. in the UK, assuming thats 10k of income before tax would place you in the 97th percentile [1]. Even half that would place you in the 90th percentile. Most people never transfer amounts higher than that other than as part of e.g. a house or car purchase. [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/percentile-points-from-1-to-99-for-total-income-before-and-after-tax https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/percentile-points-f...
  - Xylakant 10y ago
    You obviously have never worked as a freelance consultant. 10k per month is not unusual. That figure includes all cost and taxes, usually even VAT. It also includes all travel-related expenses which can easily exeed thousand EUR if you need to be on-site for a month. It's not even close to 10k personal income in the end
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - PJDK 10y ago
      Surely freelance consultants shifting that much cash around are just the sort of people that might be in a position to pull some tax shenanigans?
      - vidarh 10y ago
        True - I get calls regularly from people wanting me to invoice through shady schemes involving offshore trusts and "loans" that will never be called in.

Silhouette 10y ago

If the purpose behind is is to get the government to force banks to responsibly handle money ... you forget it's the government that requires these rules in the first place. But the government rules do not require the bank to continue to lock up the money even after evidence of legitimacy is provided or to make further errors that prevent the customer from demonstrating the legitimacy in the required way even if they want to. Both of those things appear to have happened here.

informatimago 10y ago

Notice that 10,000 euros is nothing; as a free lance consultant, you can invoice easily much more than that monthly. So basically they're tracking everybody.

kuschku 10y ago
Something like 60% of the people only do transfers over 10'000 Euro once a year or less. Most people earn far less, and only ever transfer such large amounts when they buy a car.
vidarh 10y ago
While I agree it's not a high amount claiming that accounts to "basically tracking everybody" is ludicrous. Someone billing 10k Euro a month would easily be in the top 10% earners pretty much everywhere. E.g. in the UK, assuming thats 10k of income before tax would place you in the 97th percentile [1]. Even half that would place you in the 90th percentile. Most people never transfer amounts higher than that other than as part of e.g. a house or car purchase. [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/percentile-points-from-1-to-99-for-total-income-before-and-after-tax https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/percentile-points-f...
- Xylakant 10y ago
  You obviously have never worked as a freelance consultant. 10k per month is not unusual. That figure includes all cost and taxes, usually even VAT. It also includes all travel-related expenses which can easily exeed thousand EUR if you need to be on-site for a month. It's not even close to 10k personal income in the end
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - PJDK 10y ago
    Surely freelance consultants shifting that much cash around are just the sort of people that might be in a position to pull some tax shenanigans?
    - vidarh 10y ago
      True - I get calls regularly from people wanting me to invoice through shady schemes involving offshore trusts and "loans" that will never be called in.